Land of Legends Yielding Composer to Valley

Oct 08, 2015 02:38PM
● By Rhett Wilkinson

Christian Voss is a notorious composer in a nation already known for a remarkable number of world-class musicians in the very profession. He will conduct the American West Symphony at 8 p.m. Oct. 16 at Mount Jordan Middle School Theater in Sandy. Photo courtesy of Charlotte Jordan

In Christian Voss, emerging musicians locally will soon
be led by a composer from a land that, in Germany, has produced the world’s
greatest composers.

One
might say that Voss being in Sandy in mid-October will be evidential why
Germany has been ranked internationally as the nation having the most positive
influence in the world three of the past four years.

Voss
will conduct American West Symphony performers Oct. 16 in Sandy. Most of the
all-volunteer performers are “amateurs,” Voss said – and he’s glad about that.

“Everyone
started as an amateur, yes?” Voss asked. “Sometimes you get to see your work
and fun play together. It is very exciting to make music with people who don’t
make it for money – they make it for fun.”

In
Germany, Voss enjoys working often with youth and amateur orchestras, he told
the Sandy Journal overseas via telephone.

“When
you play with professional musicians… you have a teacher – and a teacher of the
teacher,” he said. “It’s hard to make something new. It’s much more easy with
amateurs because they are open to new ideas.”

Despite
the competition in Germany, Voss has emerged. He studied composition and
conducting at Weimar conservatory. He has conducted leading orchestras in
Germany and guest conducted in Europe and Asia. He won a nationwide conducting
competition in 2001, has composed his own works and in 2014, conducted the
world premiere of Engelbert Humperdinck arrangements. Today, he is the music
director of the Elbland Symphony. It plays opera, jazz, classical music and
more.

“It’s
a very wide range,” Voss said. “I’m not getting bored.”

The
performance is possible between of a Sister Cities International exchange. It
began in 2002 during the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Then in 2012, Utah
musicians started returning the favor in visiting Riesa, Germany. Riesa happens
to be a home for most of the nation’s world-class composers.

Mayor
Tom Dolan will give a speech and open the concert. A five-member delegation of
Riesa will visit, including Arndt Steinbach and Susanne Voigt. Steinbach is an
administrator of Meissen, the state where Riesa lies. Voigt is director of the
prominent "Riesa and the World.” Also, Voss will be joined by other
musicians.

Voss
said that the geographical road for the exchange was paved a century ago, when
a German man named Karl Maeser converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, moved to Salt Lake City and was a high-level church leader
in multiple ways. There is a house in the city of Meissen next to the school
where Voss works. It was Maeser’s house and now it has a sign about Maeser and
his conversion and church service.

The American West Symphony and Chorus of
Sandy, Utah, is an all-volunteer organization created in 1988. It includes 14
concerts at various venues.

Mount Jordan Middle School Theater is the
result of a collaboration between Sandy City and Canyon School District.